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refrigerator pickling question

if your storing in the refrigerator does the canning liquid need to be hot when it goes into the jars. been doing eggs with a cold liquid because they seem to get rubbery if added hot. first attempt last night with cauliflour with hot liquid and you can see how much they shrunk up in the jar

found something with peeling eggs, fresh eggs no good, wait a couple weeks and they peel much better, someone had a link to boiling eggs...LittleChef maybe?

i followed the directions on mrs wages refrigerator bread and butter pickles on the cauliflour with hot liquid, no canning bath for refrigerator storage, i think it was a mistake, will know in a couple days. next batch will be cold all the way to see, want them pickled and crunchy and keeping them in the fridge is no problem

i think someone here uses lime on jalapenos, ones i did last year with jalepinos ands fiddleheads i just followed the wages directions pouring in the hot liquid and refrigerating, they were fine. the cauliflour though wilted down and it looks like the jars were just half packed. will know better soon, maybe they needed to be blanched then packed but the recipes on the net are all over the place for directions

I used to can quite a bit, but that was 35 years ago. Some of my recollections are still pretty clear.

When we made gardiniera, we did pour hot liquid over the veg, and then refrigerate.

We had a couple of different methods of pickling cukes. One was very simple. Pour cooled brining fluid over pickles, and store on cold porch. Those usually turned out pretty mushy. We pressure canned some. Don't recall using alum, which is probably why all most of the product was pretty mushy. I do recall that the gherkins turned out nice and crisp, but I suppose that that was because they were so tiny and spiny to begin.

As far as fresh eggs go, they can be left at room temperature for a few days before boiling. I get most of my eggs from a farm lady, and have always supposed they were good and fresh. One proof of that was that those eggs, three weeks old in the fridge, and then left on the table for a day are still almost unpeelable. I came across a note that said adding vinegar to the water would help loosen the shells. Didn't know how much to add, so tried a cup in a pot with 4 eggs. Had a 50% improvement.

Here's something that can come out pretty nice. After the eggs are boiled, tap the shells to make a lot of cracks. Then place them in some beet juice, or other bright colorant. After a few days, the whites are nicely marked with the shatter patterns.

I had to do a bunch of eggs for something a couple of weeks ago and I boiled them, put them in an ice bath till cold and then put them back in the hot water for a couple of minutes. My thinking was shrink the meat and then expand the shell. Worked like a champ.

thats how mine were, farm fresh from a friend, got about 5 dozen so using them up. last week the vinegar trick didnt work well, still too tight, a few i poked a small hole in the bigger end before boiling, seemed to help. this week did nothing and the slid right out of the shell, dont know what i did right. i did leave the eggs out a day last week and back in the fridge. dont know what kind of chickens he has but check out the green ones

When I get farm fresh eggs and they have never seen a frig they last on the kitchen counter 30-45 days. once chilled they need to be kept chilled. Older eggs 2-3 weeks in frig seem to peel better after hard boiled.

Make a fresh brine, more dill and garlic. Take the pickles put of the brine and repack, as before. Put in the fridge and enjoy. You can play with the timing until you get them as sour as you like them. I've let them sit at cellar temp in the fresh brine until fermentation begins again. Wait a day and then into the fridge. The chill will stop the fermentation.

I use Mrs. Wages Refrigerator Mixes on many things... and you do simmer the liquid which wakes up the spices and helps to melt the sugar (in the bread and butter mix). You do have to really fill the jars because stuff will shrink a little with that hot liquid.

As far as crunchy goes, refrigerator pickled veggies will be very crunchy. That's why I like them over processed veggies.

my peppers and onions came out semi crunchy, the cauliflower turned mush, maybe it wasnt fresh enough. i used the wages bread and butter mix with sugar and poured it in hot. my current egg recipe is very mild, i did up a batch of yours and richards and a bunch on the web last year, found i like them real simple, i use fresh bay leaf, peppercorns, a little canning salt, some cloves, celery seed, and mustard seed. 2 cups vinegar mixed with almost as much water, simmer it, remove spices, chill, and put in jars. i makre enough for a few weeks max. love the mrs wages on jalapenos and fiddleheads, maybe my batch of cauliflower could have been better, pushed in but after adding the hot mixture it was half gone in the jar

When I can, (0ld fashioned way).I soak whatever I'm gonna can(cucumbers,etc.)in a pickling lime solution overnight before canning.Keeps the stuff crunchy through the waterbath process.I like the refridgerator stuff,just easier to store 300+ jars in a storage room.Ball makes "Pickle Crisp Granules" that are supposed to take the place of the lime soak.It is just calcium chloride.You put some in the jar before filling with liquid.Good Luck!

A recent issue of Fine Cooking (either last month or the month before) had an article on refrigerator pickles, I want to try them but haven't yet. In one of the recipes the veggies were cooked, in another they were put in the jar and boiling vinegar mixture poured over. No sterilization/canning was done (but, they only last in the frig a few weeks).
Sorry I can't give you the exact issue, I'm on the road right now.